AMERICAN BEAUTY

30 Spectacular Images of Our Nation's Parks

Join us on a photographic journey through some of America's most stunning protected landscapes, from the red-hued rock formations of Arches National Park (shown) to the sweeping mountain vistas at Yosemite.

Delicate Arch is one of over 2,000 rock formations in Arches National Park in Moab, Utah. It's especially beautiful in late afternoon, when the sun sinks in the sky and casts a warm glow over the stone.

In prehistoric times, a shallow sea covered the area that is now Badlands National Park in South Dakota. Today, the park is famous for its dinosaur fossil beds and mountainous beauty. This image was taken from the park's visitors center.

Yellowstone National Park spans three states—Wyoming, Montana, and Idaho. The region is especially well known for its geysers and hot springs (shown here is a view of one of the geyser basins in the park).

The Blue Ridge Parkway stretches 469 miles from the Great Smoky Mountains National Park in North Carolina to the Shenandoah National Park in Virginia. Along the way, it winds past wooded forests, rushing streams, still lakes, and cow-filled meadows. Here, the Linn Cove Viaduct in North Carolina.

(Ben Blair/NPS)

Mabry Mill, a restored gristmill in Virginia, is a popular stop along the Blue Ridge Parkway.

(Ben Blair/NPS)

Petrified National Park is named after the large quantities of petrified wood found here. Dinosaur fossils and petroglyphs are also common sights. The area known as Blue Mesa (pictured) in the south of the park, is dotted with unusual geological formations.

At 18 miles wide and a mile deep, the Grand Canyon a sight to behold. Here, a traveler photographs the canyon next to the Skywalk, an engineering marvel that juts out 4,000 feet above the canyon floor.

Budget Travel reader Jeff Sullivan took a self-portrait in the Virgin River Narrows in Zion National Park. The park has miles of slot canyons, which are up to 1,400 feet deep and 30 feet wide in places.

Almost three million people visit Mount Rushmore in South Dakota every year, taking in the sculpted countenances of four of our nation's most famous presidents—George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Theodore Roosevelt, Abraham Lincoln.

Channel Islands National Park is known as the North American Galápagos because its islands dedicated to conserving rare and majestic species, such as the bald eagle and a small seabird called the Xantus's Murrelet. This aerial shot overlooks Santa Cruz Island, one of five that comprise the park.

The park's not far off the coast of California, near Santa Barbara. There's no admission fee, but to reach the islands, you have to go by boat or plane, which can cost up to $56 per person (islandpackers.com).

Located next to the city of Hot Springs in central Arkansas, Hot Springs National Park was created to protect the naturally occurring thermal springs found here. People have been coming to bathe in this water for hundreds of years.

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